The New Zarqawi Myth

by Loretta Napoleoni

The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi triggered al-Qaeda's
latest propaganda war. Key figures rushed to celebrate his martyrdom. Even Mullah
Omar, the former leader of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, emerged from his
"prolonged isolation" to praise him on the Web. He called for thousand
young Muslims to emulate his heroic life. Exploiting Zarqawi's proletarian origins,
he declared that anybody could achieve his greatness. All is needed is commitment
and belief. Thus, the shaping of a new myth has already begun.

Zarqawi is the first leader of al-Qaeda who died in battle while fighting coalition
forces; this simple fact gives him, in the eyes of the jihadist movement, almost
a supernatural status. Al-Qaeda's leadership knows too well how valuable this
is. The propaganda machine has been set in motion to rewrite part of his life,
presenting him as a loyal subject of Osama bin Laden.

This is the latest misinformation about the man. Until the end of 2004, Zarqawi
was an al-Qaeda outsider. His myth was the product of American and British propaganda
to justify a preventive strike in Iraq. Colin Powell's announcement of Feb.
5, 2003 – "Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network, headed by Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda
lieutenants" – transformed him into an international al-Qaeda leader. Having
failed to prove Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. government was
constructing its case for war on Saddam's connection with terrorism, with Zarqawi
the link to al-Qaeda. We now know that this information was false and that it
took al-Qaeda's leadership by surprise.

A creation of the West, the Jordanian was also a difficult man to handle inside
the complex power structure of the jihadist movement. He never submitted to
bin Laden's vision of the jihad, refusing to embrace the fight against America
as the primary target. He even dictated his own conditions to Osama bin Laden
to join al-Qaeda. For months, while fighting in Iraq, he insisted that the jihadist
insurgency had to focus on two fronts, one against the Shia population, who
backed the U.S.-led invasion, and the other against coalition forces. It was
only after the fall of Fallujah that a reluctant Osama bin Laden accepted his
vision.

Over the last nine months, key figures in al-Qaeda have criticized Zarqawi's
conduct of the insurgency in Iraq. They condemned the slaughter of the Shia
as bad publicity. Last fall, Ayman al-Zawahiri even suggested that Zarqawi stop
launching suicide missions against innocent Shia and focus more on attacking
coalition forces. This criticism revealed al-Qaeda leaders' deep sense of uneasiness
toward the emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and their fear that he had become a loose
cannon. The unpopularity of Zarqawi was also tangible in the Sunni resistance.
Religious leaders tried several times to kidnap and dispose of him.

Yet Zarqawi managed to avoid capture primarily because he maintained a low
media profile. This behavior changed a few weeks ago, when the first videos
of him started to circulate in the vast network of jihadist webs. Was he preparing
for a new role? Was he planning with those images to challenge the leadership
of bin Laden? If so, was al-Qaeda somehow instrumental in his death? We know
for sure that the attack was made possible by inside information about his location.
The U.S. is adamant that Jordanian intelligence played a key role in the discovery
of his hideout, yet nobody knows who tipped the Jordanians, thus earning a $25
million bounty.

The speed of al-Qaeda's response through its media channels to the assassination
of Zarqawi is deeply suspicious. Zawahiri's video, released less than 48 hours
after the event, for the first time praises Zarqawi as the prophet of Iraq.
Clearly, the video was recorded before the event, as al-Qaeda's number two does
not refer to the former emir in Iraq as a martyr. Al-Qaeda needs from two to
six weeks to get messages to the mainstream media, as their tapes travel through
a complex underground web of channels. Yet the timing is perfect. Did Zawahiri
expect Zarqawi to be killed shortly?

Even more suspicious is the distribution of al-Qaeda leaflets in several Iraqi
mosques just 24 hours after the killing of Zarqawi. Abu Abdul al-Ramahdi, also
known by the nomme de guerre "al Iraqi," appointed himself
the new emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, promising to honor the memory of the martyr
Zarqawi. The Iraqi-born Ramahdi is a newcomer to the Iraqi insurgency. Until
a few months ago, he was in hiding in the tribal belt between Afghanistan and
Pakistan. Indeed, he was sent by Osama bin Laden to help Zarqawi spread his
recruitment net in Iraq. (As a native of Jordan, Zarqawi was regarded as a foreigner
by Sunni Iraqis.) The speed with which the leaflets were printed and distributed
in a war-torn country is remarkable. Not even in New York City one can get leaflets
ready in such a short time. Are Iraqi printers better equipped and more efficient
than their Western counterparts, or had al-Qaeda pre-printed the leaflets?

These are the key questions in the latest twist in al-Qaeda's deadly saga,
questions that seem to suggest Zarqawi may be more useful to Osama bin Laden
now that al-Qaeda is shaping his status as a martyr. If successful, the new
myth will be a key recruiting tool among young Muslims. Zarqawi may end up being
more powerful and more dangerous in death than in life. While enjoying the pleasures
of Paradise in the company of 72 virgins, he may still haunt all of us.

Born
and raised in Rome, Loretta Napoleoni
was a Fulbright scholar at Johns Hopkins
University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies (SAIS) in Washington,
D.C., and a Rotary Scholar at the London
School of Economics (LSE). She has an
M.Phil. in terrorism from LSE, a master's
in international relations from SAIS,
and a Ph.D. in economics from the University
of Rome.

Napoleoni is an expert on the financing
of terrorism and is well known internationally
for having calculated the size of the
terror economy. She is the author of the
best-selling book Terror,
Incorporated (Seven Stories Press),
which was translated into 12 languages.